After a month of intensive training ended,
Guy, Obito, and Rin stood side by side in the middle of the training ground, each wearing a different expression.
"Why are you the team leader?"
Kakashi, standing opposite them, did not even lift his eyelids.
"Because I'm a jōnin."
"So what if you're a jōnin!" Obito pointed at Kakashi. "You only graduated a few years earlier than me! I'm also a genius of the Uchiha clan, I—"
"A genius who missed three out of eight shuriken during the exam?" Kakashi finally raised his eyes and glanced at him.
Obito's face instantly turned bright red.
"That was because the wind was wrong that day! Besides, I won the practical combat test!"
"By using that weird butt-wiggling dance?"
"That wasn't a butt-wiggling dance! It was the Graduation-Exam Victory Prayer Dance Shin-chan drew especially for me!"
"Oh." Kakashi looked away. "Then can your Victory Prayer Dance help you pass today's test?"
"What test?"
Kakashi pulled two bells from his ninja tool pouch and tied them to his waist with a red cord.
"The rules are simple." After securing the bells, Kakashi continued, "From now until noon, the three of you must work together to take these bells from me. You may use any method you want."
"Take the bells?" Obito froze. "That's all?"
Rin asked, "Why are there only two bells?"
"Because one of you is destined to go hungry." Kakashi turned and walked toward the center of the training ground.
The three exchanged glances.
"You're deliberately trying to turn us against each other."
"No. This is the reality of being a ninja." Kakashi slipped his hands into his pockets. "On the battlefield, there are times when you must choose between the mission and your comrades. This is your first lesson as genin."
"Should we come up with a battle plan?" Rin looked at Obito and Guy.
"No need!"
Obito had already charged forward.
He formed hand seals and spat out a fireball.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Kakashi shifted slightly.
The fireball brushed past him and slammed into the earthen wall behind him.
"Too slow. No matter how powerful a ninjutsu is, it's useless if it can't hit."
"Leaf Whirlwind!!!"
Guy came flying in from the side with a kick.
Kakashi stepped aside, and Guy's heel smashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Your speed is decent," Kakashi said in the same flat tone. "But—"
Guy did not give him time to finish.
The moment he landed, he followed up with a sweeping kick, only for Kakashi to evade it just as easily.
"Your attack pattern is too simple."
Kakashi caught Guy by the ankle and used his momentum to shove him away.
Guy rolled across the ground once before regaining his footing.
"You really are strong, Kakashi! But I won't give up! Youth never admits defeat!!"
"Then keep going."
"Obito, let's attack together!"
"You don't have to tell me!"
The two rushed at Kakashi from opposite sides.
Obito threw three shuriken while running, while Guy launched a taijutsu attack from the front.
The instant Kakashi's body was struck, it vanished with a poof.
"A clone?"
"Above us."
Obito and Guy looked up simultaneously.
Kakashi was standing on a large tree at the edge of the training ground, looking down at them.
"The idea of working together was good, but your attacks completely ignored timing."
Obito gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"Again!"
He charged at Kakashi once more and threw a punch directly at him.
Kakashi easily tilted his head aside.
Obito threw another punch.
Kakashi dodged again.
"You bastard." Obito swung punch after punch, but Kakashi avoided every one with ease. "Why aren't you fighting back?"
"Because there's no need."
Kakashi grabbed Obito's wrist and pulled him sideways.
Obito immediately lost his balance.
"Obito!" Rin ran over and helped him up.
"I'm fine."
"This isn't going to work." Rin lowered her voice. "We need a plan."
"We don't need one."
Obito tried to charge again.
Rin grabbed his sleeve.
"Obito, calm down. Kakashi is a jōnin. The three of us are newly graduated genin. We have no chance if we keep attacking him head-on. We have to come up with something."
Obito gritted his teeth, but finally stopped.
Guy also walked over, and the three huddled together, whispering among themselves.
Kakashi stood some distance away, watching them confer. A nearly imperceptible flicker passed through his eyes.
"Finished discussing?" he asked.
"Yep!" Obito turned around, confidence returning to his face. "Kakashi, are you ready to face Lord Obito's ultimate battle plan?"
"Oh." Kakashi slipped his hands back into his pockets. "Go ahead."
Obito took a deep breath.
And then...
He turned around, faced away from Kakashi, and began hopping while wiggling his body.
"Ninja Art: Graduation-Exam Victory Prayer Dance!!!"
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched.
"What... is that?"
"This is Shin-chan's secret technique!" Obito shouted while continuing to wiggle. "Guy, now!"
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Guy suddenly burst out from behind Obito.
Using Obito's body as cover, the kick came fast and completely unexpectedly.
Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly.
For an instant, that ridiculous dance really had distracted him.
He leaned backward, and Guy's foot swept past the tip of his nose, the wind pressure blowing his silver hair.
Meanwhile, Rin had already circled around and approached from behind, reaching for the bells.
"I see." Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "That ridiculous dance was the feint. Guy's flying kick was the main attack, while Rin circling behind me was the real finishing move. Clear division of roles, and the timing was good."
Obito stopped dancing.
"Scared now? This is our team's ultimate battle plan."
"The idea is good."
Kakashi vanished with a Body Flicker and appeared on the other side.
"But it's still not enough."
Obito and Guy exchanged glances.
Both nodded at the same time.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Guy's flying kick and Obito's fireball attacked Kakashi simultaneously from two directions.
Kakashi leaped into the air, avoiding the attacks from below.
At the exact moment he was suspended in midair, Rin threw three shuriken from another direction, cutting off his landing routes.
"Not bad. Your coordination has improved."
Kakashi formed hand seals in midair, then suddenly charged straight toward Rin.
"Rin!"
Obito shouted and tried to rush over to help her, but Guy grabbed him.
"Trust Rin," Guy said. "She's fighting too."
As Kakashi rushed toward her, Rin pulled a smoke bomb from her ninja tool pouch and smashed it at her feet.
Bang!
White smoke instantly spread across the area, completely swallowing her figure.
Kakashi stopped inside the smoke, losing sight of his target.
"A smoke bomb?"
Before he could finish speaking, a steel wire suddenly shot out from the smoke and wrapped precisely around the bells at his waist.
"What?"
Rin rushed out from the other side of the smoke, gripping the opposite end of the wire.
She pulled hard.
The steel wire sliced through the red cord, and both bells fell toward the ground.
Kakashi reached out to grab them, but Guy had already thrown himself in from the side, using his body to block Kakashi's hand.
"The power of youth isn't only for attacking!"
Obito leaped upward from below, reaching for the two falling bells.
His fingertips touched them.
He was only a little short.
Then a hand reached out from behind him and calmly caught both bells.